URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:
Same -Sex "Marriage"- PLEASE PRAY WITH ME (every day untill the decision is revealed around mid-June) THAT THE SUPREME COURT WILL VOTE TO UPHOLD THE 2 LAWS REVIEWED SUPPORTING A TRADITIONAL DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE.. PRAY that the Court will resist any pressure to MAKE new law based on "cultural trends." PRAY as though the very future of the institution of the family is at stake because it is. PRAY! - for the sake of possibly millions of such children, and for our country if it is to continue to be shown any more favor by our Heavenly Father, who I promise you will be very displeased if homosexual marriage is legalized; "GOD IS NOT [TO BE] MOCKED..." - (Gal. 6:7) - Stan [Be sure to check out my brief essay at post #478.]
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR SAEED (Iranian-born AMERICAN pastor who just started an 8 year sentence for helping the underground churches in Iran) [See 3/25 update below!] If you have not already, please join over 500,000 (was recently250,000) who have signed the petition for Pastor Saeed's release and tell your friends about it. http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-from-iranian-prison-sentence
As the Lord leads, please pray: *For Pastor Abedini as he endures one of Iran’s most deadly prisons, potentially beaten and abused regularly, simply because of his Christian faith. *For the pastor’s wife and family and the Holy Spirit’s comfort upon them. * For God to visit his tormenters and all in his cell with him with supernatural dreams of the risen Christ, and use the pastor's actions and words to draw them to repent and turn to Christ; that God would use the pastor's time in that prison to spark a genuine spiritual revival that will bring scores of Iranians to Christ..*For the U.S. State Department to get involved in a significant way to obtain the pastor’s release.
April 9 - 1) It's been reported that even though Pastor Saeed has developed internal bleeding from months of beating by prison guards, he has been denied medical attention. (http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/April/Iran-Denies-Pastor-Saeed-Medical-Treatment/) PRAY that Pastor Saeed might finally receive the medical treatment he needs. 2) More than 550,000 people from 180 countries have signed the petition to Save Saeed. Your voice has moved the U.S., the European Union, and many others to call for his release. But as Pastor Saeed's May 7th 33rd birthday approaches, it's time to encourage him directly. At the ACLJ, they've obtained the address of Evin Prison, and their goal is to flood the prison with thousands of messages of encouragement for Pastor Saeed. Just write a letter (or simply sign your name to one proposed greeting) and they will be sure that its delivered. These messages will let Pastor Saeed know that we're praying for him and his release, as well as send a signal to the Iranian leaders that Americans will not give up standing up for him. Go to Save Saeed.org and add your name to those sending letters to him.
"Margaret Thatcher Made Great Leaps, Avoided Compromise," Marion Smith, April 10, 2013; http://blog.heritage.org/2013/04/10/margaret-thatcher-made-great-leaps-avoided-compromise/ [AS I SEE IT: The passing of the "Iron Lady" of Great Britain this past Monday needs to be noted as her courageous leadership as Prime Minster speaks of the kind of integrity that is so rare among political leaders of any generation. I was privileged to have lived during the incredible time that she and the late President Reagan and Pope John XXIII dominated the world stage and made decisions for good that will last for generations. Hearing of how her Christian faith directed her assured me that every believer in Christ may one day hope to meet this great leader. - Stan]
The life of the late Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, offers many interesting and instructive examples of statesmanship. Not only for what the Iron Lady did, but what she did not do—her ability to resist the prevailing winds of peer pressure and public opinion in favor of her own principles. It is no surprise that this trait was exercised in matters great and small—for it was a virtue she refined over time.
One of the most humorous examples of Thatcher’s resolve was captured near the end of an obscure TV interview with a Swedish journalist, who asked Thatcher to jump up in the air as a way of humanizing herself to the audience. Thatcher firmly declined. “I make great leaps forward, not little jumps in studios,” she declared. “What a puerile thing to ask.” When pressed further and told that Gorbachev had jumped on command Thatcher asked, “I wonder what he thought about the politics of a free society if that’s what they ask you to do?” This exchange reveals a gracious but unyielding loyalty to her principles and customs—a trait that allowed Thatcher to withstand the much stronger winds of national and international opinion when much more was at stake. [Go to the link noted above to watch this interview.]
Criticized by many for being a woman in a man’s profession (by some for being too ladylike and by others for daring to enter politics at all), Thatcher maintained that a woman can contribute greatly even while refusing the masculine program of modern feminism. For example, she opposed women in military combat. “Women have plenty of roles in which they can serve with distinction: some of us even run countries. But generally we are better at wielding the handbag than the bayonet.”
When deeper European integration appeared to threaten British national sovereignty in 1990, Thatcher famously declared to the House of Commons, “No. No. No.” Her original impression proved correct about the anti-democratic and unaccountable structure of today’s European Union.
Likewise, having taken the reins with a stagnant British economy and general national decline, Britain’s first female prime minister said “no” to redistributive economic policies. When critics, media, and even voices in her own party criticized her curtailment of government spending she answered, “To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.” She refuted the arguments for socialism at every turn and made the case for true justice and equal opportunity in economic policy.
Along with President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, Thatcher mobilized moral and material resources against the menace of international communism. As John O’Sullivan described in his book about the historic trio, “Wojtyla, Thatcher, and Reagan all embodied such fading virtues as faith, self-reliance and patriotism—which the modern world seemed to be leaving behind.” Thatcher was quite comfortable standing athwart history and pointing to a happier, freer, and more sustainable future.
Collectivism was immoral and a national threat; the goal, therefore, was victory—not complacency. The strategic importance of resisting bad ideas and totalitarian leaders at every opportunity was a lesson of the Cold War that Thatcher feared might be lost on future generations. In her book—Statecraft—she wrote that if influential people fail to understand “or have just forgotten, what we were up against in the Cold War and how we overcame it, they are not going to be capable of securing, let alone enlarging, the gains that liberty has made.”
The capacity to say “no” at the right time to the wrong ideas is still an indispensable aspect of principled leadership. Young admirers of the Iron Lady must learn to exercise this virtue, too, for weightier decisions are coming. Today’s defenders of liberty need inner strength, refined by practice. In her words, “I have usually sought to avoid compromise, because it more often than not turns out to involve an abdication of principle.”
To be sure, statesmanship is not only about negation. There are many problems to solve, threats to face, and liberties to secure—and Margaret Thatcher was active on all fronts. But all these prospects are weakened or rendered unachievable without the ability to prioritize and the capacity to occasionally say “no.”
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
"Christ's 'Supreme Sacrifice' Formed Thatcher's Foundation," Tiffany Owens, April 10,2013; http://www.worldmag.com/2013/04/christ_s_supreme_sacrifice_formed_thatcher_s_foundation
[Watch "The Real Legacy of Margaret Thatcher, Britain's Iron Lady" by the Heritage Foundation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zr-M4vrf40 ]; "Remembring Margaret Thatcher," - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JcH7dQrnJ0&NR=1&feature=endscreen]
One of the most humorous examples of Thatcher’s resolve was captured near the end of an obscure TV interview with a Swedish journalist, who asked Thatcher to jump up in the air as a way of humanizing herself to the audience. Thatcher firmly declined. “I make great leaps forward, not little jumps in studios,” she declared. “What a puerile thing to ask.” When pressed further and told that Gorbachev had jumped on command Thatcher asked, “I wonder what he thought about the politics of a free society if that’s what they ask you to do?” This exchange reveals a gracious but unyielding loyalty to her principles and customs—a trait that allowed Thatcher to withstand the much stronger winds of national and international opinion when much more was at stake. [Go to the link noted above to watch this interview.]
Criticized by many for being a woman in a man’s profession (by some for being too ladylike and by others for daring to enter politics at all), Thatcher maintained that a woman can contribute greatly even while refusing the masculine program of modern feminism. For example, she opposed women in military combat. “Women have plenty of roles in which they can serve with distinction: some of us even run countries. But generally we are better at wielding the handbag than the bayonet.”
When deeper European integration appeared to threaten British national sovereignty in 1990, Thatcher famously declared to the House of Commons, “No. No. No.” Her original impression proved correct about the anti-democratic and unaccountable structure of today’s European Union.
Likewise, having taken the reins with a stagnant British economy and general national decline, Britain’s first female prime minister said “no” to redistributive economic policies. When critics, media, and even voices in her own party criticized her curtailment of government spending she answered, “To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.” She refuted the arguments for socialism at every turn and made the case for true justice and equal opportunity in economic policy.
Along with President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, Thatcher mobilized moral and material resources against the menace of international communism. As John O’Sullivan described in his book about the historic trio, “Wojtyla, Thatcher, and Reagan all embodied such fading virtues as faith, self-reliance and patriotism—which the modern world seemed to be leaving behind.” Thatcher was quite comfortable standing athwart history and pointing to a happier, freer, and more sustainable future.
Collectivism was immoral and a national threat; the goal, therefore, was victory—not complacency. The strategic importance of resisting bad ideas and totalitarian leaders at every opportunity was a lesson of the Cold War that Thatcher feared might be lost on future generations. In her book—Statecraft—she wrote that if influential people fail to understand “or have just forgotten, what we were up against in the Cold War and how we overcame it, they are not going to be capable of securing, let alone enlarging, the gains that liberty has made.”
The capacity to say “no” at the right time to the wrong ideas is still an indispensable aspect of principled leadership. Young admirers of the Iron Lady must learn to exercise this virtue, too, for weightier decisions are coming. Today’s defenders of liberty need inner strength, refined by practice. In her words, “I have usually sought to avoid compromise, because it more often than not turns out to involve an abdication of principle.”
To be sure, statesmanship is not only about negation. There are many problems to solve, threats to face, and liberties to secure—and Margaret Thatcher was active on all fronts. But all these prospects are weakened or rendered unachievable without the ability to prioritize and the capacity to occasionally say “no.”
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
"Christ's 'Supreme Sacrifice' Formed Thatcher's Foundation," Tiffany Owens, April 10,2013; http://www.worldmag.com/2013/04/christ_s_supreme_sacrifice_formed_thatcher_s_foundation
[Watch "The Real Legacy of Margaret Thatcher, Britain's Iron Lady" by the Heritage Foundation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zr-M4vrf40 ]; "Remembring Margaret Thatcher," - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JcH7dQrnJ0&NR=1&feature=endscreen]
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